I Will Wait

Mumford and Sons is one of my favorite bands. Their lyrics are amazing and so much deeper than they seem, you can try to take apart their songs and make them mean so many different things. My favorite song by them right now is called "I Will Wait". I am going to attempt to analyze it to figure out its meaning. The lyrics are:
And I came home
Like a stone
And I fell heavy into your arms
These days of darkness
Which we've known
Will blow away with this new sun

And I'll kneel down
Wait for now
And I'll kneel down
Know my ground

And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

So break my step
And relent
You forgave and I won't forget
Know what we've seen
And him with less
Now in some way
Shake the excess

But I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

So I'll be bold
As well as strong
And use my head alongside my heart
So tame my flesh
And fix my eyes
That tethered mind free from the lies

But I'll kneel down
Wait for now
I'll kneel down
Know my ground

Raise my hands
Paint my spirit gold
And bow my head
Keep my heart slow

Cause I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

Mumford and Son's were brought up in the church, therefore many of their songs have a lot of spiritual ties. This song, in my opinion, is very spiritual, and about Jesus Christ. We have been commanded to live this life, to endure the hardships and the trials, and to do what is right to be with him again one day, I feel that is what this song is exactly about. He has done wrong, made mistakes, and is going through hard trials, but at the end of the day, he comes home, kneels down and surrenders himself to Christ. He is talking about how he will do better in his life, he has been forgiven and wont forget and he will do his part in this life, and wait for Him. This song is truly amazing. 

School Play

I am unsure what the play was called, but it was surely something.... Different. I do enjoy going to the school plays, no matter how bad they may be, but this one is by far the worst that I have seen. The language was not too difficult, but the fact that the actors were speaking so quickly, their words were blurring together and I could hardly understand a single word throughout the entire play. I do admit that there were a few funny parts here and there that made me laugh out loud, but the majority of the rest of the play, I was confused. The story line was clear, but I am not sure how that was supposed to represent the independence of women. The women seemed to be very naive and boy crazy, and not to mention they were portrayed a lot with sexual references, so the meaning of the play was a little lost to me.

Oedipus Rex and Genesis

Hopefully I am not driving everyone crazy with all of my Bible references, but I was doing my daily Scripture reading a few days ago and came across a part that reminded me a lot of Oedipus. It was in Genesis and more specifically, chapter 31. Just a little bit of background, there is Jacob who loved a girl named Rachel, he worked for 7 years in order to have her father hand her over to him to marry. After the seven years were up, the father said that Jacob cannot have Rachel, his other daughter, Leah, was older and it was not custom to give the younger daughter before the older. So he made him marry Leah instead and work seven more years if he wanted Rachel. So he did, and finally wedded Rachel. The story goes on and the make a large family and eventually, Rachel stole "teraphim" from Laban with which the possessor had the right to inherit their fathers property. Laban was wrath with anger and he came to Jacob accusing him of stealing them from him. Jacob, being completely unaware that Rachel had stolen them (they were like images or small objects that people would worship, it was very important back then), was so sure that he was innocent that he swore  a severe punishment over the guilty person and asked Laban to search his tents. Laban searched the tents, found nothing and went on his way. But the punishment Jacob suggested still stands for the guilty party. This reminded me a lot of Oedipus being so sure that he was not the guilty person of murdering his father, that he swore and awful punishment of the person that did it. When it turned out all along that he had done it, unknowingly.

Looking Forward

Today I finally had my senior meeting with Mrs. Long. I probably had the longest meeting out of all the students, it lasted over two hours! Before today, I was entirely unsure of where I planned to go to college or how I was going to go about it, plan for it, or apply for anywhere. Now I know where I am going to go, how to get started with it, and how to get where I want to be. It made me so excited for what is going to come after high school instead of it intimidating me as it usually does. We also talked a lot about my personal life as well, she seemed to be very interested about how things where like at home for me. After talking to her about how I live and work, and my circumstances and so forth, she seemed to be very concerned about me. She was trying everything she could to make things work out better for me than they have been. Which has led to an entire schedule change in order to come to school in the morning, take the 2 classes I need, and then leave so I can work. Unfortunately, this means that starting next semester, I will have to go to a different English class. I don't want to change necessarily but I know it will help me tremendously. Things will be a lot easier on my and it wont be so hard to juggle my 40 hours of work a week along with school since I will be able to start working a little earlier in the day. It's a little bitter sweet.

Interpretation Goes A Long Way

As many already know, I am a very religious person. The religion that I am apart of is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, other known as Mormon. With Romney running for president (or WAS), Mormonism has really come to light recently and I have endured the most criticism, questions, and talked to many people about how they feel about the church. What everything boils down to is why people seem to separate us from other Christians, and ultimately, is all about interpretation. How? Well all Christians believe in Christ and base teachings off of the Bible. This we also do. The only thing being, the Bible can be a very controversial book and can be interpreted in many different ways, we just happen to interpret a few things differently, so in turn, we do things a little differently.

For starters, many Christians, not all, believe that the Bible is the only inspired book of Christ and is perfect, they greatly disagree that Mormons four books of scripture. We have the Holy Bible (king James Version), the Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and the Book of Mormon. We have these different books as a means of clarification and deeper testimony, if you were unsure of something that you read in the Bible, you will find more information on it in the other books. Many Christians do not agree with this simply because Deuteronomy states “you shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take anything from it” (Deuteronomy 4:2).  From this verse it refers to “this book” in which the Bible had not been fully created yet, so we interpret this to mean adding or taking away from his own book, his own words; the Book of Revelation. We have added separate books, written with different words of different people (just as the Bible does), giving us more of a perspective and a fuller understanding.


For instance members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe that it is Christ’s atonement by which we are saved, but we also believe that we must do good works throughout our lives; Nephi states “it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). Whereas critics to our doctrine say that with accepting Christ as our savior and through Christ’s grace, there is nothing more necessary to be saved. This idea of grace alone, I must add, is never stated in the bible. Although it does say “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:9-9). Well does this not plainly say that only His grace is needed? Well here is the thing, we accept the Bible in its entirety regarding what it says of Grace, faith, and works, and not just a few selected passages which are often misinterpreted. We believe that this verse was to simply teach the importance of grace. Christians may pull out that verse as their reason for believing this, but leave out that James wrote: “For as the body without spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). This verse, and many like it, perfectly embody what the LDS Church believes on this matter. There is another instance of criticism in which Mormons believe that Heavenly Father has a physical body, whereas other Christians believe he is of spirit form. This belief is often claimed to be non-Christian by citing “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24) as it is stated in the King James Version. However, this verse should simply read “God is spirit”, due to the fact that in the Greek language (the language in which this verse was translated from) there is no “a” or “an”. With it now reading “God is spirit”, it no longer means God is a spirit, rather stating that spirit is one of his many attributions. Mormons, nor do Christians interpret “God is light” (1 Jn. 4:5) to mean that God is only light, or “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8) to mean that God is only love. So why interpret "God is spirit" so literally?



Non-believers will often pick at small contradictions that they think they have found between the Book of Mormon and the Holy Bible. We cannot rule out an entire religion due to a few contradictions, especially when there are countless contradictions within the Bible itself.  In john we read “I and my Father are one” (Joh. 10:30), then later in John we read “Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I” (Joh. 14:28). So are they equal or not? In Isaiah it says “Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities” (Isa. 14:21). Then again, later, in Deuteronomy is says “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deu. 24:16). In one it clearly says to be punished for the fathers sins, whereas the second says the very opposite. And how are we to truly know the last words of Jesus Christ, when in Matthew it claims “and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is to say, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”… Jesus, when he cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” (Mat. 27:46,50). Then in Luke it claims “and when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, “Father, unto thy hands I commend my spirit:” and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” (Luk. 23:46). Once again, in John, it claims “when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “it is finished:” and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” (Joh. 19:30). So which of these is truly the last words of Jesus Christ? I have found multiple contradictions pertaining to rather or not god can be seen. “and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my backparts” (Exo. 33:23), “and the Lord spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend” (Exo. 33:11), “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Gen. 32:30), all of which testify to us that God CAN be seen. “no man hath seen God at any time” (Joh. 1;18), “and he said, thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live” (Exo. 33:20), “Whom no man hath seen nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:16), all of these testify to us that God CANNOT be seen. As you can see, by just these few examples, that the Bible is full of contradictions, so claiming that Mormon’s are not Christian because there are some contradictions in the Book of Mormon to the Bible, is just as valid as saying Christianity itself is not true because of the contradictions in their own Bible.

I could go on for days, but the bottom line, Mormon's are Christian, we believe in God, and just for the record, we do NOT believe in Polygamy.

Salem Play

Today during class we went to the school production of Salem. Our school plays have not always been very good, by a long shot, so I did not have any high hopes for this play to be any different. I am glad to say that I really enjoyed this play, it was very different from any of the other ones I have seen, It was a little odd (because of the puppets), it was also well acted out and made me laugh out loud a few times. The way plays are written, there is always the next line that picks up directly after someone else completes there's. That way it keeps continuously going and makes it a little fast paces. They actors in the play did a good job at doing this, they came in at just the right times and everything flowed together very well, the way it is supposed to. In a written play, there is always a small incerpt every so often describing the setting or just a recap of everything that is going on. You also say where this played into the show we watched. Any time the scene changed, it was announced to the audience. This play was certainly a comedy, it was light-hearted, funny/humorous, and had a lighter tone to it.

Writing Essays

I just want to say, this class is a lot harder that I thought it was going to be. It has challenged me more than I have been challenged in any of my classes in high school. I did not take AP English last year though, so maybe that contributes to my feeling of being less prepared. Being challenged is not a bad thing, it is making me go out of my way to actually work really hard for the grades that I get, and trust me, I'm working hard. I always considered English to be an easy class, the easy A, and that is what it has always been for me in the past. What I wanted to focus on though is writing. I don't recall ever having to write a well written paper/essay, in any correct format or set up, or have been taught about claims and how to properly write a theme. How did I ever get by? Well I sadly have never had to do any of that in previous classes, contributing to my challenges in this class. With all of the essays that we have been asked to write recently, I have gone from thinking I was a perfectly good writer, to a very scatter brained writer. I am fine with that, challenge accepted.

New Independent Reading

I have trouble finding books that I really enjoy reading, but once I find a book, I really like it, and it seems to stick with me. I have read mostly books that I did not care much for in this class so far, so I really wanted to choose a book this time that I would actually enjoy. I asked around with my classmates to see what they have read and how they liked certain books. Any time I have someone telling me that a book they read was entirely twisted and crazy, then I am interested immediately. That is my kind of book. So, clearly when I heard about the book "A Clockwork Orange", I was sold, I bought it on my Kindle right them. I am only one chapter into the book and I already love it. The main characters in this book are the definition of crazy and twisted and the book started right off the bat with action. This book is not all awesome though, I was shocked to find such a large amount of odd words that I had never seen before. Words like "rassoodocks" meaning 'mind', "mesto" meaning 'place', "storry" meaning 'smooth; fast', "moloko" meaning 'milk laced with alcohol', "horrorshow" meaning 'well or good', "deng" meaning 'money', "crasting" meaning 'stealing things'. Well, you get the point, and that isn't even a handful of them. So I am, for the first time, needing to look up many of the words that I come across. Making this a more difficult book to read, as well as making me take my time with it and pay attention to the small things. I have high hopes for this book. I also here that there is a movie, and a rather crazy movie at that.

The God of Small Things

The book I read for my independent reading was The God of Small Things. This is unlike any book that I have read before, but I am not sure if that is a good thing or not. Although the story was good, there were many things that I did not like about this book.

The first being that I found it slightly confusing at times, the author did not have much consistency in a lot of her writing. I really did not like how the time frames were constantly changing. If it had some kind of organization to the way that they changed and skipped, it wouldn't be so bad. But that was not the case. It would jump to years in the past with no warning, and it would take a bit of reading to catch onto where exactly I am in terms of chronological order. This was the cause of most of my confusion with the story. It had just a lot of what I feel, is unnecessary skipping around.

Also, I have learned to pay attention to pay attention to the format and organization of the writing. I was trying to do that with this book. There were many instances where there would be a word or a phrase isolated from the rest of the context, usually emphasizing importance, or tie into some deeper meaning, or have something behind it. She would do this often, and I would be unable to figure out why, and for what meaning, if any, so I often felt as if I was missing some deeper meaning/message. I was actually unable to find any deeper meaning within the entire novel itself, if there was meant to be one, it was completely lost to me.

I really feel like there is a lack of consistency with this book that was hard for me to overlook. Her tone seems to change throughout the story, the point of view changes often, also, she refers to Rahel and Estha as "we", then will change later on, referring to them as "they".

Maybe this book is actually some really complicated book, requiring someone of much more knowledge of analysis than me to figure out. Maybe everything I have pointed out actually does have a meaning to it, but I am just completely unaware of it. But all in all, I am just unsure of how I feel about the book. I don't hate it, and I don't love it.

Spoiler Alert (A Good Man is Hard To Find)

I read this story one time through, and I knew better based on the past short stories we have reviewed in class that this story was not as simple and straight forward as it seems on the surface. I decided I would try to break it down before class, to see if I am even close to what it is supposed to mean. So I read it again.... and again. Finally I was able to point out some interesting ties and connections that I had not even thought twice about the first time I read it. I was unable to find any deeper meaning or twist to the story itself, that would make it mean anything different, but I was able to find a lot of connections and symbolism that I found pretty interesting. I'm sure that they will all tie together some how when we discuss it in class, but my mind doesn't think as abstract as some of the connections we come up with in class.

The first thing I noticed was the part that said "They passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced  in the middle of it, like a small island". I was able to pull out two different significance's within this quote alone. The first being the six graves. Six graves, six family members (Bailey, his wife, his mother, and the three kids). To me, this is just plain and simple, it is an allusion that they are all going to end up dying. I also found that the fact that the author compares the graves placement as being 'like a small island', to have importance. This may connect to how they end up later on in the story, The six family members are all trapped (or stranded), and surrounded on all sides by the Misfit's men , similar to being stranded on an island; surrounded on all sides by water. It seems like a stretch... but then again, so do all of the connections we make in class.

Before I go any further, I found there to be religious connections within this story. It was a lot of digging, and making connections that clicked with me, I may be completely wrong here, but the majority of this story broke down, to my interpretation, to have religious connections.

This quote right here is what first led me to the thought of there being religious ties/morals within the story: "The grandmother recalled the times when there were no paved roads and thirty miles a day's journey. the dirt road was hilly and there were sudden washes in it and sharp curves on dangerous embankments. All at once they would be on a hill, looking down over the blue tops of trees for miles around, then the next minute, they would be in a red depression with the dust-coated trees looking down on them." To me, this is ultimately an allusion to their journey toward death. For one, it talks about the road being hilly, with lots of curves. Often when you are on the right pat (in life), it is religiously referred to as the straight and narrow path; which will lead you to heaven. The path to Hell is said to be long, strenuous, curvy, and hard to overcome. Which basically sums up the long, unpaved road that they are traveling on. This to me is what alludes to their travel to death, and more specifically, Hell. It also refers to the road going up at first, being high up, and looking down on the 'blue tops of trees' (blue is often associated with the sky; Heaven), but then they end up down lower in the ground in a 'red depression' (red is often associated with fire; Hell). This just further backs up my thought on what this quote could mean.

So why is this poor, seemingly innocent family headed to hell? Well, based on a few details, these are not the best of people. For instance: "The grandmother said she should have done well to marry Mr. Teagarden because he was a gentleman and... a very wealthy man" This to me, is the authors way of showing us that the grandmother isn't some nice, sweet, innocent lady. But rather, she  values money, and material things over wholesome things, family, and relationships. Later on we get the same vibe for June Star "'No I certainly wouldn't' June Star said 'I wouldn't live in a broken-down place like this for a million bucks!'" June Star also values material wealth most.

"The Misfit pointed the toe of his shoe into the ground and made a little hole and then covered it up again" Here is another allusion to death, this sounds a whole lot like a burial, digging a hole in the ground, and then covering it back up.

I am not done yet, and I found a lot more interesting things, for instance, I think that the Misfit (despite how his character may come off) represents God/Jesus, and the grandmother is like the Adversary. I'd love to explain but this is getting long and it is 11:59 so I am out of time. Maybe you can try and figure it out for yourself ")

These Blogs...

Writing a blog every week is much harder for me than it really should be. Not because it is hard to do, but I can never think of a single thing to write about! I am normally the last person to complain about anything, but I am only writing this because I cannot think of anything to write about. Yes, our readings are interesting, and the discussions on them in class are even more interesting. This is probably my favorite English class that I have ever had. So why can't I write about those things? Well simply because, what can I offer up about a story that I have read, that we hadn't already covered in class, or that someone else had already written about. Unless I just go on about obvious, pointless things that everyone already knows, and then I feel like I am just rambling and wasting my time. I feel like if  I had a solid topic to write about each week that I felt strongly about, I would love this. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I am not in any way suggesting that we should discontinue the blogs, just expressing the frustration I feel every Wednesday night that I sit down to write a blog and end up staring at my computer screen blankly for like 30 minutes, and coming up with nothing. But I do love the class, no complaints about that. That is all.

Hills Like White Elephants

This story, as I was reading it, made no sense to me what so ever. It just seemed completely random and pointless and I didn't get why I was reading it, or how it was beneficial in any way. I did look back into the story to see if I could figure it out, and still nothing came to me. That is why I found today's class lesson about it so interesting. It showed me to look into a story in a way that I never have before, finding symbolism in things that would typically be overlooked, and making connections to things that I would have usually not even thought twice about.

I have no doubts that if I come across a story like this again, that I will be able to figure out what it is really about, or at least give it a better guess than being completely clueless. Although I feel like if we weren't told that the story was about abortion all along, than we would have been able to pull out different topics, and back it up with the same evidence, just tying another meaning to it. for instance, with someones idea of it being about a breast surgery, if it were a breast reduction, it could be described through the part about an operation, and the part where they say "once they take it away, you never get it back". If you were to back up as them talking about marriage, they could be talking about an operation but metaphorically, about it being the only thing making them unhappy (maybe they have been together so long but never got married so it felt like their relationship wasn't going anywhere, OR maybe they are a religious couple and are saving themselves for marriage.), maybe they are having commitment issues and that is why they said "once they take it away, you never get it back", referring to their freedom. they were discussing about being able to have everything, while the other said they could not. maybe one thinks everything is when they are together but not apart, and the other thinks you have everything when you are seperate. There are just so many possibilities, but once you know what it really is, it all makes sense.

Some Things Never Change

So I have basically missed the past 3 classes in a row. While many students like to miss school, have a free day to do what they like, I hate missing school. I don't feel like that little extra bit of time out of school is worth all of the hours of makeup work, getting behind in class, and not being caught up on tests. One class, fine, that happens. But three classes, it begins to get a little overwhelming.

It seems like every year I have countless tardies and absences, I am always needing to leave miss school for one reason or another and I'm pretty sick of it. I have a very busy life, I live on my own, pay all my bills, work 30+ hours a week, and steadily maintain Crossfit. There is nearly no time for homework, none the less with the added responsibility of make up work. With my busy schedule it is easy to see why I am out of school so much. Sometimes I just have to do what I have to do in order to support myself and come up with the money I need to pay my bills, along with the responsibility of caring got my younger sister. So I need to miss school for her needs many times as well.

Every year My absences have causing me to fall behind in at least one class. I see this happening in this class and I am trying my very hardest to keep that from happening this year, and to keep this year from being like all of my others.

College

I know that this has little to do with English specifically, but it is a big topic in my life right now and the only thing that I could think to blog about. After all, it is school related. Before this year college was just something that I automatically assumed I would do and didn't think anything else about it. It was always one of those things that I would deal with when the time came. Well the time is here, and it hit me with a brick. Suddenly I am doing internships to figure out what it is I want to do in my life, I am researching schools, trying to find scholarships, applying at schools, studying to get my test scores up, and it is all just very overwhelming. 

I would have never imagined how hard it actually is to apply for college. There is a lot more work involved rather than just simply filling out an application and being on with your way (which is how I assumed it to be). Not only is the process of applying for the school difficult, but you have all the research for scholarships and trying to apply for as many of those as you can. Which always leads to the real stresser... Tuition. I'm sure I am not the only one who has to pay for college completely on my own, but right now I just don't see how it is possible. Even if I were to play it safe and live at home and go to BCTC, the cost is still far more than I can afford. I know that realistically I will have to take out students loans to help me pay, but thinking about doing that, and having to pay them off my entire life just makes me cringe. 

Today I went on a college visit with my EBCE class to UK. It put a lot of things into perspective for me, and it made everything that much real. I really liked it there and I would love to go to a school that I would like to go to and live on campus to get the whole college experience, but I know that getting into college with my pay only, makes this more and more far fetched. It is just a little disappointing for me, and doesn't really seem fair, especially considering that college is pretty much necessary these days. It has put a lot of stress on me. But okay, I am done going on my rant about college, and hopefully everything will turn out just fine.  

Never Let Me Go Vs. The Island

     One of the books I read this summer for summer reading was Never Let Me Go. From the moment I realized that the 'students' in the book were actually clones who were all made with the purpose of donating their body parts to the people in the outside world, my mind kept going back to a movie I had saw in English class my Sophomore year. This movie was called The Island. It too was about clones who were made to donate their vital organs to those in the outside world. In the book Never Let Me Go, it never specified that the clones were made as an exact clone of someone famous or wealthy enough to get a clone of them, that way if they became ill or something happened, they had a clone who could donate to them, but that is still what I kept thinking. This is because, if my mind serves me correctly, is how it went in the movie, The Island.
     My purpose of writing this blog originally was to show the similarities between the Never Let Me Go book and The Island movie, but the more I think back on each, the similarities end after maybe the first 30 minutes of the Island movie. While both are stories of clones who are made of people in the outside world, with the purpose of donating their body parts when they are needed, and both having a tied in love story involved where their relationship seems unlikely or against all odds, that is about as far as the similarities go. The Island is very futuristic, high tech, and more of a fast pace, action movie about the two clones escape.The main focus in this movie is about how they escape. The clones in this movie are completely unaware that they are clones, and are unaware of their future and what will come of them. To justify why some are disappearing and never coming back, they tell them that they have been released to live on some beautiful island. On the other hand, in Never Let Me Go, the clones are told their whole lives what they are and what will happen to them. All though they are told in ways in which it doesn't really occur to them, they are still informed, they know what will happen to them when they leave. The main focus in the book is not about a lot of action, or some elaborate escape plan, it focuses much more on the characters, their lives, and the love stories. This book, at least in my head, did not seem high tech and futuristic, but more casual, modern times, school kids kind of thing.
     While at first, I thought the two were similar, it is clear that there are also many differences. If I were to compare Never Let Me Go to just the beginning of The Island, then I would have something there, but I realize that the differences between the movie as a whole, are more than the similarities.

Hobby?

     My boyfriend, Jacob, went to Western Hills in Frankfork for high school, where he grew very close with his english teacher. They broke down many different forms of literature, annotating it, to show its deeper meaning. This is something that he found very interesting and was very good at. Now every time we hear a song, or a saying, or poem, he can't help but to see it the way his english teacher had tought him to. We will hear a song, that when you are just carelessly listening to it, sounds like a pretty happy song. But he will start saying what he feels the song truely means, and at first sometimes it just sounds crazy and far fetched, until you break it all down.
      At first it was hard for me to just read something, or listen to something and be able to grasp that deeper meaning. We had some free time, so he took the opportunity to show me a poem or two for me to break down. this is the one we found:

                                                  I’m a riddle in nine syllables,

                                                  An elephant, a ponderous house,

                                                  A melon strolling on two tendrils.

                                                  O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!

                                                  This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising.

                                                  Money’s new-minted in this fat purse.

                                                  I’m a mean, a stage, a cow in calf.

                                                  I’ve eaten a bag of green apples,

                                                  Boarded the train there’s no getting off.

     At first glance this just looks like a bunch of random and sporadic sentences put together. Elephants, melons, red fruit, big yeasty rolls, money, purses, cows, apples, and trains; where's the connection? I read this maybe 5 times before I realized what it was really about.  The women is pregnant. "A riddle in nine syllables", and there are nine lines in the poem; representing the nine months of pregnancy. "An elephant", she sees herself as fat maybe, or large in comparison to before the pregnancy. "A ponderous house", like her large stomach is the house to her baby. "This loaf's big with its yeasty rising", here she is comparing her child to bread while it's rising- how it can go from to a small ball to a large loaf three times its size in a matter of minutes- showing that her baby his growing very large, and quickly. "Boarded the train there's no getting off", she got pregnant, and there's no changing that, and her life is now going to change. There is an explanation in every line as to how this poem is talking about a pregnancy, it's just a matter of finding the connection.
     This may seem boring, but it was actually very interesting, especially when you do it with songs. Mumford and Sons songs are great for it and you can get so many different stories out of one song.